PARIS: Digital activists supporting anti-government protests in Iran said they hacked an online broadcast by state television of a speech by President Ebrahim Raisi on Saturday marking the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The Edalat-e Ali group posted a video of the purported interruption of Raisi’s address on Twitter, in which it called on Iranians to withdraw their money from “corrupt” regime banks and to take to the streets next week.

“Many compatriots approached us and asked us to echo the call (for protests) on February 16,” the group said on Twitter, in its second such reported hacking of state television in support of anti-government protests.

In September, protests erupted in Iran after the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, following her arrest for an alleged breach of the Islamic dress code for women. The protests evolved into a challenge for the leadership before subsiding at the end of the year in the face of a deadly crackdown.

Speaking at a rally in Tehran’s Azadi Square on Saturday to mark the anniversary, President Ebrahim Raisi said people had gathered to renew their “allegiance” to the 1979 revolution.

Sejjil ballistic missiles and 136 drones were on display around the Azadi Square. State television said the celebrations were held in 1,400 cities and towns across the country, airing footage of large rallies in Isfahan, Mashhad, Shiraz, and Tabriz.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2023